The Academy

A pioneer in this field, the Racing Club de Strasbourg Alsace did not wait for directives from the French Football Federation to set up, in 1972, a structure intended for the training of young players. In 1974, the club was then among the first in France to set up a “Training Center”, under the leadership of Robert Domergue and Jacques Berthommier.

The training center, renamed Racing Mutest Académie in 2019, directed by François Keller and whose motto is “Learn to be small to become big”, has seen the flowering of some big names in French football, 1979 French champions Léonard Specht and Albert Gemmrich to the internationals Morgan Schneiderlin, Martin Djetou, Olivier Dacourt and Kevin Gameiro, without forgetting Arsène Wenger, who was in charge in the early 80s.

There are many players trained at Racing who then embarked on a professional career, in Strasbourg or elsewhere. Some have had an international career and joined the biggest European clubs. José Cobos (Paris SG, Espanyol Bercelone) led the way. Kevin Gameiro (PSG, Sevilla, Atletico Madrid), Martin Djetou (Monaco, Parma, Fulham), Olivier Dacourt (Everton, Rome, Inter Milan) have worn the Racing brand in the most demanding championships. Morgan Schneiderlin (Manchester United, Everton) is the last in line. All wore the jersey of the French team

Many other talents have hatched at the top level and some continue to stand out. Among them are Cédric Kanté, Guillaume Lacour, Eric Mouloungui, Habib Bellaïd, Sidi Keita, Ricardo Faty, Loïc Damour, Fabrice Ehret, Valérien Ismaël, Pascal Johansen, Anthony Weber and Régis Gurtner. Not to mention Jérémy Grimm and, more recently, Antony Caci, Youssouf Fofana, Kevin Zohi, Mohamed Simakan or Ismaël Aaneba, who appeared regularly in the first division (Ligue 1) with Racing last season.

If training is a tradition, a pillar of the life of Racing, today it follows the curve of the values expressed since the takeover of the club by Marc Keller, in the sense of modernity, anchored in its territory. Appearing in Category 1, the highest label in this field, the Center is also a school of life where the values of the club are taught through education, schooling and football. Classified in Category 1 (the highest label), it has 15 employees and 80 young people in training, 40 of whom live on site.

Considerable efforts have been made in recent years to bring the Center into line with the requirements of the Federation while strengthening its regional identity, as indicated, for example, by the presence of Martin Djetou and Guillaume Lacour, former Racing players who form the link between a rich past and an ambitious vision of the future, which is therefore now written under the label “Racing Mutest Académie”.

Key Metrics of the Academy

SIZE: 3 520 M²

Locker-rooms: 850 m²
Weight room: 50 m²
Sauna – hot tub
Laundry room
36 double rooms, 2 dormitories
3 classrooms: 300m²
Computer room
TV room
Library: 50 m²
Club house: 300 m²
Restaurant and bar for 100 people
400 m² + 100 m² terrace
Bar: 23 m2 + 30 m2 terrace

CONTACT

Racing Mutest Académie
3, rue de la Kibitzenau
67100 Strasbourg
Tél : 03 88 84 74 33
academie@rcstrasbourg.eu